At Last, Students Speak Up

I have been known as one to complain about the lack of real "news" on the Harvard campus. I have said that there has been very little which excites and motivates students on this campus to demonstrate, protest and rally for those issues which are important to them, those principles which cannot be infringed upon or ever taken away. On Thursday, December 7, close to 1,000 Harvard students proved me wrong.

The rally for public service, sponsored by the student leaders of Phillips Brooks House (PBH), showed administrators and students alike that there are some rules and decisions which will not be taken sitting down, some issues which are much too important to students to give up on, issues like community service--a possible progressive movement of the '90s.

In previous columns, I have remembered the '60s and the '70s as a time when there were issues such as the sexual revolution, civil rights and the war in Vietnam to rally for. The spirit found in journalism and in the demonstrators at that time was inspiring, overwhelming and worthy of news. I have found it hard to equate anything of the sort happening in the 1990s with the exciting and purposeful causes of 20 years ago. Public service at Harvard and in the world at large can very well be that issue, that principle which moves us, the future, to motivate.

This movement should not just be happening because Harvard administrators are usurping the power held successfully by students in the past, but because finally, students have come together with a communal idea in mind. It is an idea which has nothing to do with themselves, their academics, their ability to have alcohol in their rooms for a party, but with a community which is so concentrated in Cambridge and in the United States. Students have begun to ask questions, the first step to finding answers to problems at large.

A revolution is too strong a word to be used in this case. It must be remembered that the mission of the rally, which was clearly stated and repeated by students, had nothing to do with revolting against the administration, rather it was a rally for public service. It was a call for more attention to the need for community service, for the importance of such organizations as PBH. It was an appreciation of the formidable efforts made by so many students and faculty members at Harvard to help the community. The fact that Thursday's event was not a rebellion or a revolution for something geared towards students and students alone, but rather a rally, a movement towards recognition for the service to a community of people often forgotten, makes it true, makes it admirable, makes it successful.

Much more could have been made of the idiotic excuse of Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 that his calendar was not consulted as his reason for missing the rally. But this is not why students were gathered in front of the John Harvard statue. It had less to do with attacking faculty members and the university's administration and much more to do with saying and showing that students are genuinely concerned about the future of public service not only at Harvard but in the world.

It is rather sad that such a cry for recognition can be brushed off so quickly by the administration. Instead of Dean Lewis actually attending this rally, a true demonstration of his concern for public service (which he of course says he has), a pathetic three-page stapled mission statement and list of excuses for Harvard's restructuring of PBH was magically present for students by the time dinner came along in the dining halls yesterday. Typical Harvard administrative response: say it in writing.

It is an honor to witness students, the true public service administrators at this school, voicing their opinions publicly, honestly in front of their peers, in front of administrators, in front of faculty members, in front of whoever will listen to them. It is Harvard administrators' inability to face its students with these kinds of questions and concerns which gains them no respect and guarantees the empowerment of the student and the growing importance and recognition of community service in the future at Harvard.

Nancy Raine Reyes' column appears on alternate Saturdays.